SACRAMENTO — – California became the first state to require restaurants to cook without artery-clogging trans fats, such as those in many oils and margarines, under restrictions signed into law Friday by the health-conscious governor.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a physical-fitness advocate and crusader against obesity, sided with legislators who said the measure would help get the fat out of Californians who are too dependent on fast food.

Trans fats can preserve flavor and add to the shelf life of foods but have been linked to heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

The new law, http://97AB 97 by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), requires restaurants to use oils, margarines and shortening with less than half a gram of trans fat per serving by Jan. 1, 2010, and applies the standard to deep-fried bakery goods by Jan. 1, 2011.

“California is a leader in promoting health and nutrition, and I am pleased to continue that tradition by being the first state in the nation to phase out trans fats,” Schwarzenegger said. “Consuming trans fat is linked to coronary heart disease, and today we are taking a strong step toward creating a healthier future for California.”

New York City has a similar ban, which began July 1 with a three-month grace period.

Those who violate the California law could face fines of $25 to $1,000.

The legislation was vigorously opposed by the California Restaurant Assn., which argued that it would not substantially affect public health because people eat 75% of their meals at home.

The decision on what restaurants use in cooking should be based on the desires of customers, not government officials, said association spokesman Daniel Conway.

Even so, he said, “given the fact that our industry is already phasing out trans fat in response to customers and that there is a delayed timeline for implementation, we are confident our members will be able to meet the mandate of the law.”

Indeed, the law follows steps already taken by such institutions as McDonald’s and Spago Beverly Hills to meet customer demand.

“I am completely in support of it,” chef and Spago owner Wolfgang Puck said in an e-mail. “My companies stopped using trans fats years ago.”

The fats can be found in vegetable shortenings, margarines, crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods and other processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Carl’s Jr. chain plans to stop cooking with trans fats by the beginning of the year, said company spokeswoman Beth Mansfield.

“We saw where the industry was going,” she said.

Other chains that have fully or partly eliminated trans fat or had previously committed to doing so include Wendy’s, El Pollo Loco, Mimis Cafe, KFC, Burger King, IHOP, Applebee’s, Starbucks, Subway, Taco Bell, Denny’s, Panera Bread, Red Lobster and the Olive Garden, according to the restaurant association.

The group said ethnic restaurants and bakeries would be hardest hit by the ban, because many ethnic dishes are more difficult to prepare with trans fat-free substitutes.

Rod White, the owner of Bertha’s Soul Food in Los Angeles, estimated that it would cost him $30 more a week to buy cooking oil without trans fat, and he was angry.

“The government is infringing too much on the rights of people to even eat what they want,” he said. “Are they going to outlaw salt next because it causes hypertension?”

Compliance will be checked by state health inspectors on their periodic restaurant visits.

She’s already done what no one thought possible, returning from her second retirement - and just two years removed from having a child - to reclaim her place as America’s most dominant female sprinter. She’ll be the oldest American ever to swim at the Olympics, but she wants so much more.

“I can’t sit here and lie and say, ‘Oh, I’m just glad I’m going,”’ said Torres, who’ll be in her fifth Olympics. “I want a medal.”

Having already won the 100m free Friday, Torres got off to the third-slowest start in the most frenetic lap in swimming. But she was in control midway through, touching in 24.25 seconds to eclipse the mark of 24.38 she set the previous night in the semifinals.

REALonomics.net advocates that the industry open up the property information portals to consumers and upgrade its approach to how it is interacting with the consumer by implementing more social networking such as www.CityBlogUSA.com, a community blogging network for every city in the USA.

Visit www.REALonomics.net.

The Company launched the BETA version of CityBlogUSA in July and has been test marketing positions in selective markets in its 50-State, 25,000+ cities network to real estate agents on an exclusive basis.

Company Vice President, Robert Barringer said, “we created CityBlog with the idea that consumers want to blog about their favorite cities or hometown and to directly post information about lifestyles, real estate, jobs, health care, schools and even politics from an insider’s perspective.”

“CityBlog California allows residents, businesses and real estate industry professionals to open up the local information portals for those seeking to relocate and for those residents who want to post alternative information that the newspapers, TV and magazines aren’t reporting…after all, who knows more about a community than the people who live there?”, said Barringer.

Agents can “Stake a Claim” to their city as its “Real Estate and Relocation Specialist” and hold that position exclusively, interact by posting blogs, talk about real estate and any other local issues they would like to include in the blog.

Barringer said, “The most powerful thing about CityBlog is that any resident can become an author…we are just setting up a network and trying to sell ad space…we believe in the consumer-centricity of the economy, especially when it comes to real estate and local lifestyles.”

People can blog Los Angeles, Riverside, Blythe, Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Lakewood, Redding, Eureka, Palm Desert and any other city and have the same blogging experience. You can jump to any California city and be blogging in minutes by going to www.CaliforniaBlogPage.com, this very site.

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